Washington—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today subpoenaed Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad to testify at an open hearing of the Committee next Thursday, September 19th. Chairman Engel issued this subpoena after the Department of State ignored numerous requests for briefings by Khalilzad about the Afghanistan peace plan and the Administration’s path forward in that country.
“More than 2,000 American troops have died in Afghanistan, and I’m fed up with this Administration keeping Congress and the American people in the dark on the peace process and how we’re going to bring this long war to a close. For months, we haven’t been able to get answers on the Afghanistan peace plan, and now the President is saying the plan is dead. We need to hear directly from the Administration’s point person on Afghanistan to understand how this process went off the rails. I expect to see Ambassador Khalilzad in our hearing room next Thursday at 10 o’clock sharp,” said Chairman Engel.
Chairman Engel signed this subpoena, the first the Committee has issued this Congress, after the State Department refused requests in February, April, and earlier this month for briefings or testimony from Ambassador Khalilzad on the Afghanistan peace plan. Additionally, Secretary of State Pompeo flatly refused to make Ambassador Khalilzad available to the Committee, despite Congress’s constitutional responsibilities, the Committee’s authority to oversee foreign policy, and Ambassador Khalilzad’s briefing to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
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